Two New Additions to the MFA Products of Design Faculty: Project Projects and Benjamin Critton

We are thrilled to announce two new extraordinary additions to the faculty of the MFA Products of Design Program! The Graphic Narratives course will be taught by Project Projects (and AT Project Projects!), headed up by Prem Krishnamurthy, Adam Michaels, and Rob Biampietro, and (über)-team-taught by the current staff of Project Projects, including Chris Wu, Aileen Kwun, Andrew LeClair, Kim Sutherland, Won Choi, Jonatan Eriksson, and Simon Lagneaux. The Mark-Making & Graphic Representation course will be taught by Benjamin Critton, Brooklyn-based designer and art director. We feel very privileged to have these amazing new additions to the program.

About Project Projects

Project Projects is a design studio focusing on print, identity, exhibition, and interactive work with clients in art and architecture. The studio was founded in 2004 by Prem Krishnamurthy and Adam Michaels; Rob Giampietro joined as a principal in 2010. Project Projects’ clients include the Berkeley Art Museum, Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies, Bernard Tschumi Architects, BOZAR Brussels, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Field Operations, Guggenheim Museum, Harvard GSD, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Museo Tamayo, The Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of China, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, Phaidon, Princeton Architectural Press, SALT (Istanbul), Steven Holl Architects, Tablet magazine, Vera List Center for Art & Politics, Whitney Museum of American Art, WORKac, and the Yale University Art Gallery. The studio has been a Finalist twice in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards (2009 & 2011) and has received numerous distinctions including the ADC Bronze Medal, I.D. magazine’s 2007 Design Distinction Award, the Art Directors Club Young Guns 5 Award, several Society of Publication Designers merit awards, and the AIGA 365 Award. In addition to client-based work, the studio initiates and produces independent curatorial and publishing projects.

About Benjamin Critton

Benjamin Critton is an American designer and art director based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. He received his BA from Hamilton College in 2006 and his MFA from the Yale University School of Art in 2011. Benjamin Critton Art Department was founded in 2012 as an art and design practice / service focusing on collaborations with and commissions from patrons in the fields of academia, art, architecture, fashion, furniture, hospitality, and publishing. The studio's client-based work in printed matter, typography, identity design, object creation, and interactivity is supplemented by independent and interdependent initiatives in publishing, writing, editing, curation, and pedagogy. Recent and ongoing clients include Atelier de Troupe, Bullett Magazine, Candide: Journal for Architectural Knowledge, The Center for Urban Pedagogy, Eriksen-Skajaa Architects, General Assembly & Super National, The Hammer Museum, New York City Public Schools, The New York Times Magazine, Printed Matter, OMMU Bookshop, RO-LU, Sight Unseen, The Storefront for Art & Architecture, and The Yale School of Art.

The students took Engender Exhibition at NYCxDesign to the streets on Saturday night, invited into Flos, Alessi, BlueDot, Blackbody, and SightUnseen. (See the original post with project descriptions here. And more photos here.)

As part of NYCxDesign, the students of the MFA in Products of Design at the School of Visual Arts present Engender, a roving and interactive exhibition that explores the role of design in the construction of gender identities. The exhibition’s eight interventions deconstruct simple artifacts and gestures of our gendered world and invite visitors to play along in a performative game of gender mash up and reconstruction.

The students of the MFA Products of Design took home 5 different honors in this year's Core77 Design Awards! The recognized work spanned multiple categories—from Interaction Design and Social Impact Design, to Consumer Products and Packaging.

On May 7th, 2015, SE2OND: The 2015 Masters Thesis Presentations, took place at the SVA Theatre in New York City. Friends, faculty, colleagues, family and fans took part in the celebration, where 15 students presented their thesis projects. Enjoy some of the photos from the day below!